Ball handling and grip strength training gloves

ABSTRACT

The ball handling and grip strength training gloves strength the fingers and forearms of a user by creating resistance against curling the fingers towards the palm when worn. The ball handling and grip strength training gloves assist players in catching balls, and strengthens the grip for players in any sport, while helping to prevent players from closing their hands before the ball is caught, thereby assisting in preventing fumbles. The gloves include resistance tension bands along the finger portions at the top of the gloves, thereby forcing the user to keep their hands open. This strengthens the muscles in the user&#39;s hands and forearms.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

The present application is related to and claims priority from priorprovisional application Ser. No. 62/867,759, filed Jun. 27, 2019, theentire application of which is incorporated herein by reference.

COPYRIGHT NOTICE

A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains materialthat is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has noobjection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent documentor the patent disclosure, as it appears in the Patent and TrademarkOffice patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyrightrights whatsoever. 37 CFR 1.71(d).

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The following includes information that may be useful in understandingthe present invention(s). It is not an admission that any of theinformation provided herein is prior art, or material, to the presentlydescribed or claimed inventions, or that any publication or documentthat is specifically or implicitly referenced is prior art.

1. FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to the field of strengthtraining devices. More specifically, the invention is a pair of ballhandling and grip strength training gloves designed to increase hand andgrip strength and ball handling in order to improve a playersperformance in sports such as American football.

2. DESCRIPTION OF THE RELATED ART

Hand and grip strength is an important issue with a wide range ofeffects on activities as diverse as opening a jar to gripping a wheel tosimply holding someone's hand. Such strength is of particular import ina number of sports, including American football, soccer, and water polo,where the ability to reliably catch, hold, and throw a ball can make orbreak a players game, whatever their level of play.

Ball handling skills are closely related to hand strength, and of utmostimportance to players in ball-focused sports. Many players close theirhands before the ball makes contact, causing them to drop the ball.Players in a number of sports often have issues due to a lack of handstrength that causes their performance to diminish. Players can be proneto fumbling a ball or missing tackles because their hand strength isinsufficient.

Currently available grip strengtheners tend to include balls and otherdevices that can be squeezed repeatedly as part of a workout. While thisis useful for over all hand strength, it doesn't necessarily help toimprove a player's ball handling skills.

Ideally, ball handling and grip strength-training gloves should providea way of increasing a user's ball handling and grip strength and, yetwould operate reliably and be manufactured at a modest expense. Thus, aneed exists for a reliable ball handling hand and grip strength-trainingglove to avoid the above-mentioned problems.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In view of the foregoing disadvantages inherent in the known gripstrength-training device art, the present invention provides a novelball handling and grip strength training glove. The general purpose ofthe present invention, as described subsequently in greater detail, isto provide a pair of ball handling and hand and grip strength traininggloves.

The ball handling and grip strength training gloves as claimed aregloves designed to strength the fingers and forearms of a user bycreating resistance when worn. The presently claimed invention assistsplayers in catching balls, and strengthens the grip for players in anysport, while helping to prevent players from closing their hands beforethe ball is caught, thereby assisting in preventing fumbles.

The ball handling and grip strength training gloves include resistancetension bands along the finger portions at the top of the gloves,thereby forcing the user to keep their hands open. This strengthens themuscles in the user's hands and forearms.

The present invention holds significant improvements and serves as ballhandling and grip strength training gloves. For purposes of summarizingthe invention, certain aspects, advantages, and novel features of theinvention have been described herein. It is to be understood that notnecessarily all such advantages may be achieved in accordance with anyone particular embodiment of the invention. Thus, the invention may beembodied or carried out in a manner that achieves or optimizes oneadvantage or group of advantages as taught herein without necessarilyachieving other advantages as may be taught or suggested herein. Thefeatures of the invention that are believed to be novel are particularlypointed out and distinctly claimed in the concluding portion of thespecification. These and other features, aspects, and advantages of thepresent invention will become better understood with reference to thefollowing drawings and detailed description.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The figures that accompany the written portion of this specificationillustrate embodiments and method(s) of use for the present invention, aball handling and grip strength training glove, constructed andoperative according to the teachings of the present invention.

FIG. 1A shows a perspective view illustrating a ball handling and gripstrength training glove, according to an embodiment of the presentlyclaimed invention.

FIG. 1B shows a palm-side view illustrating a ball handling and gripstrength training glove, according to an embodiment of the presentlyclaimed invention.

FIG. 1C shows a back-side view illustrating a ball handling and gripstrength training glove, according to an embodiment of the presentlyclaimed invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view illustrating a pair of ball handling andgrip strength training glove, according to an embodiment of the presentinvention of FIG. 1.

The various embodiments of the present invention will hereinafter bedescribed in conjunction with the appended drawings, wherein likedesignations denote like elements.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

As discussed above, embodiments of the present invention relate to astrength training device and more particularly to a ball handling andgrip strength training glove as used to improve the user's ball handlingand hand grip strength.

Generally speaking, the ball handling and grip strength training gloveshave resistance bands in the finger portion of the gloves that keep thehands in an open position. In order to close his or her hand, the usermust work against the resistance bands, thereby increasing the strengthof the user's hand and forearm muscles.

Referring to the drawings by numerals of reference there is shown inFIG. 1A, the ball handling and grip strength training glove 1 ispreferably made from cotton or nylon in the shape of a hand. As shown inFIG. 1B, the palm portion 2 of each glove has a tacky rubber material 3thereon, to assist in gripping the ball. As shown in FIG. 1C, resistancebands 4 run from the top portion of every finger 5 to the writst portion6 along the back side 7 of each glove, and are attached to provideresistance against the fingers curling towards the palm. The wristportion 6 may include a strap 8 with a snap or a hook-and-loop, such asVelcro, attachment to adjust the tightness of the glove at the wrist tothe user's body so that the gloves remain on even during sport.

As shown in FIG. 2, the gloves made for both a left hand 9 and a righthand glove 10, and are ideally worn as a pair, creating a ball handlingand grip strength training glove system. The system may be sold as a kitincluding a glove for the user's left hand and a glove for the user'sright hand. The gloves can be manufactured in a wide variety of sizesand colors. The exact specifications may vary.

The embodiments of the invention described herein are exemplary andnumerous modifications, variations and rearrangements can be readilyenvisioned to achieve substantially equivalent results, all of which areintended to be embraced within the spirit and scope of the invention.Further, the purpose of the foregoing abstract is to enable the U.S.Patent and Trademark Office and the public generally, and especially thescientist, engineers and practitioners in the art who are not familiarwith patent or legal terms or phraseology, to determine quickly from acursory inspection the nature and essence of the technical disclosure ofthe application.

What is claimed is new and desired to be protected by Letters Patent isset forth in the appended claims:
 1. A ball handling and grip strengthtraining glove, the glove comprising: (a) four finger portions toreceive a user's four fingers; (b) a thumb portion to receive the user'sthumb; (c) a hand portion, wherein the four finger portions and thethumb portion are operably connected to the hand portion to receive theuser's hand; (d) a wrist portion, wherein the wrist portion is operablyconnected along a bottom edge of the hand portion to receive the user'shand through the wrist portion; (e) a palm side; and (f) a back side;(g) a tacky rubber material operably attached to the hand portion of thepalm side of the glove in order to assist with gripping a ball; (h) fiveresistance bands operably attached from a top of each finger portion anda top of the thumb portion to the bottom edge of the back side of thehand portion so that each resistance band provides resistance againstcurling the user's fingers and thumb towards the user's palm.
 2. Theball handling and grip strength training glove according to claim 1,wherein the glove is made of a material selected from the groupconsisting of cotton or nylon.
 3. The ball handling and grip strengthtraining glove according to claim 1, wherein the wrist portion furthercomprises: (i) a strap with a snap or hook-and-loop attachment operablyconnected to the wrist portion to adjust the tightness of the glove atthe wrist to the user's body to hold the glove in place.
 4. A ballhandling and grip strength training glove kit, the glove kit comprising:(a) a glove according to claim 1, wherein the four finger portions andthe thumb portion are operably connected to the hand portion to receivea user's right hand; and (b) a glove according to claim 1, wherein thefour finger portions and the thumb portion are operably connected to thehand portion to receive a user's left hand.
 5. The ball handling andgrip strength training glove according to claim 4, wherein each glove ismade of a material selected from the group consisting of cotton ornylon.
 6. The ball handling and grip strength training glove accordingto claim 4, wherein the wrist portion of each glove further comprises:(i) a strap with a snap or hook-and-loop attachment operably connectedto the wrist portion to adjust the tightness of the glove at the wristto the user's body to hold the glove in place.